September is perhaps the best month to visit New York City. That’s when the Big Apple turns pleasant after its peak summer. If you are reasonably well off, you would mind less that the city has become costlier and consider attending the month’s numerous attractions including the US Open (tennis), Fashion Week, art fairs and festivals of film, dance and music.
September also changed NYC, like never before, 14 summers ago. The 9/11 attacks shocked not just the Americans but people across the world. It sparked debates—incidentally still relevant—on terrorism being a ‘war without borders’, religious fundamentalism, misuse of technological and financial market advancements, foreign policy flaws, globalization, politics of alienation and authoritarianism.
But this coming September will be a special month for the megalopolis as it is set to host the annual United Nations General Assembly meetings (September 25-27) where the UN member states are expected to “adopt a new (post-2015) sustainable development agenda”. The agenda will take forward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), set in 2000, through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) meant to succeed them.
There were eight MDGs and 21 ‘anti-poverty targets to be achieved by 2015’. Through an ‘Open Working Group’, a process more inclusive than what helped in arriving at the MDGs, a report has already been prepared with a proposal for 17 SDGs and 169 targets. This is obviously much more ambitious than the eight MDGs and 21 targets.
The September event is billed by the UN as one of “the three milestones in 2015”—the other two being the Paris Climate Conference in December and the just concluded UN Third International Conference on Financing for Development (or FFD3) in Addis Ababa.
The article’s full-text is available on the website of Diplomatic Courier
Horizons Hosts James Dorsey for a Discussion on Middle East Escalation
The Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) hosted an award-winning journalist and scholar Dr. James M. Dorsey for a special Horizons Discussion on June 23rd, 2025. In conversation with Horizons Managing Editor Stefan Antić, Dorsey unpacked the lightning-fast escalation between Israel and Iran, the Trump administration’s divided response, and the wider stakes for regional and great-power politics.
Read more
Vuk Jeremić at St. Petersburg Economic Forum: “We Are Living in a Time of Grave Geopolitical Instability”
St. Petersburg, June 2025 – Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on the high-level panel “Eco-Rethinking of the Global Financial System,” Vuk Jeremić, President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD), delivered a stark warning about the risks posed by escalating global tensions to any serious attempt at international financial system reform.
Read more
CIRSD Hosts Ugandan Presidential Advisor Odrek Rwabwogo in Latest Horizons Discussion: A Deep Dive into Africa’s Industrial Future
The Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) hosted Mr. Odrek Rwabwogo, Uganda’s Presidential Advisor on Exports and Industrial Development, as the featured guest in the latest installment of its flagship Horizons Discussion series — the main dialogue platform of Horizons journal.
Read more
CIRSD Vice President Stefan Jovanović Speaks at Regional Conference on China’s Role in the Western Balkans
Belgrade, June 5, 2025 – Stefan Jovanović, Vice President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD), participated in the regional conference “Democracy Meets Strategy: Parliament’s Place in China Policy”, held in Belgrade. The event gathered parliamentarians, policymakers, and experts from across the Western Balkans to examine the region’s evolving cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.
Read more